I have discovered that apparently horses and writing go hand-in-hand. My wife had requested that we go riding this evening. Our two mounts have been woefully neglected the past few weeks due to our busy schedules, so today we felt that they were due to be ridden. I wanted to sit down and spend some time writing tonight, given that I have a deadline to meet this weekend, but the horses needed to be tended to first.

It is almost always relaxing and refreshing to spend time with the horses. When a ride goes smoothly, the rider leaves feeling refreshed and energetic. Such was my experience this evening. When I dropped back to the ground after a 20-minute ride, my mind was active, creative, and ready to write. Such happens so infrequently that I was eager to get back to my computer and work for a while.

I just finished a 75-minute writing stint, and I was pleased to note that I put nearly 1000 words down, half of what I need to finalize this story. With any luck, I’ll finish the other half tomorrow and set it aside to be reviewed and revised on Friday. It feels good to have gotten so much done, particularly since my workday was less than productive.

All in all, this makes a relatively bad day into a pretty good one.